Printers Pane |
The Printers pane is a visual representation of all of the printers, local and remote, that are installed on your network. By using this pane, you can view detailed information about each printer on the network. This pane also provides a convenient way to monitor the status of a printer and to track inventory item usage.
Depending on the security settings of both the local and the remote computer, you might have access to a variety of printer management controls. When you have the correct permissions, you can use Printer Maestro to open the Printer Properties dialog, send test pages to the printer, and pause printing on each of the printers.
When Printer Maestro detects a computer that is running the Printer Maestro service, it stores information about each printer that is installed on the computer in its database. You can view this information by adding or removing columns in the Printers pane. The following information is available.
Field |
Description |
---|---|
Name |
Displays the name of the printer. This field is required and is included in the default view. |
Port |
Displays the port that is used to transmit data to the printer. |
Status |
Displays the current status of the printer. |
Jobs |
Displays the number of jobs that are currently in the printer's queue. |
Item Usage Meter |
Displays the current usage of any inventory items that have been moved to the printer. Point to this column to display more detailed information and to display multiple meters if more than one item has been moved to the printer. |
Location |
Displays the user-defined location of the printer. |
Comment |
Displays a user-defined comment for the printer. |
Computer |
Displays the name of the computer where the printer is installed. |
Share Name |
Displays the share name of a shared printer. |
Model |
Displays the model name of the printer. |
Driver Version |
Displays the version number of the installed printer driver. |
Color |
Indicates whether the printer supports color printing. |
You can right-click various locations in the pane to display a context menu. The options in the menu vary depending on the pane element that you clicked, as follows:
When you right-click a column header, the menu displays a list of the columns that are available to add or remove from the pane. For more information, refer to Working with Columns.
When you right-click the pane's title bar or in a blank area of the pane when no rows are selected, the menu displays the following options:
View: When you point to this option, a menu is displayed that you can use to change view settings for the pane and to print the contents of the pane.
Fields: When you point to this option, a list of available column headers is displayed that you can use to add or remove columns from the pane.
Group By: When you point to this option, a menu is displayed that you can use to change how the rows are grouped.
Collapse All Groups: Collapses all groups. Available when groups are used and one or more groups are expanded.
Expand All Groups: Expands all groups. Available when groups are used and one or more groups are collapsed.
When you right-click a printer or select a group of printers and then right-click, the menu displays the following options, which vary depending on the printer, driver, and security settings and on the current status of the printers:
Pause Printing: Pauses printing on the selected printer if it is not currently paused.
Resume Printing: Resumes printing on the selected printer if it is paused.
Open Print Queue: Opens the Windows print queue for the selected printer. Available when only one printer is selected.
Set as Default Printer: Sets the selected printer as the default printer. Available when only one printer is selected.
Printing Preferences: Opens the Windows Printing Preferences dialog for the selected printer. Available when only one printer is selected.
Rename: Renames the selected printer. Available when only one printer is selected.
Delete: Deletes the selected printer.
Print: Opens a submenu that includes the following options:
Windows Test Page: Prints the Windows test page.
Simple Test Page: Prints a simple test page that is provided by the printer driver.
Printer Test Page: Prints the printer's internal diagnostic test page, if one is available.
Maintenance: Opens a submenu that includes one or more of the following options:
Cut: Cuts off any labels that were fed from the printer.
Feed: Feeds a blank label.
Reset Printer: Resets the printer, which is equivalent to turning the printer off and then turning it back on.
Flush Cache: Flushes the printer's cache memory.
Sensor Profile: Performs a sensor profile on the printer.
Set Label Length: Feeds several labels to determine the label length.
Run Calibration: Feeds several labels to calibrate the printer to the spacing between label gaps or marks.
Send File To Printer: Sends a file that consists of printer commands to the printer. The driver does not process the contents of the file.
Properties: Opens the Printer Properties dialog for the selected printer.
You can hide the pane by using one of the following methods:
On the View menu, click the name of the pane.
In the top right corner of the pane, click the icon.
To close the pane, click the icon in the top right corner of the pane.